


Unreal Chemistry

by imaginethatstarlord



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Arrow (TV 2012) Season 1, Arrowcave (Arrow TV 2012), Comfort/Angst, Dark Past, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Matchmaker Thea Queen, Metahuman Powers (The Flash TV 2014), Metahumans, Minor Laurel Lance/Tommy Merlyn, Oliver Queen Needs a Hug, Oliver Queen is The Green Arrow, Original Character-centric, Past Relationship(s), Protective Oliver, Protective Oliver Queen, Protective Thea Queen, Protective Tommy Merlyn, Separation Anxiety, Thea Queen Ships It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginethatstarlord/pseuds/imaginethatstarlord
Summary: Rose Merlyn is a shy and quiet author who has undeniable feelings for a certain vigilante and a dark past that weighs on her. Will things get better with Oliver's return home or will things take a turn for the worse?





	1. Sunshine

She sat typing away on her keyboard, her imagination was running wild. She finally had gotten the inspiration to work on her novel, the third and final one in the series she had been working on for years. She smiled to herself as she worked vigorously, she was so close to the end of the book she could feel it. There were only 6 chapters left to write, soon to be 5. She stopped typing only to take a sip of her coffee. The caffeine broke her concentration on the screen just long enough for her to register that the coffee shop’s single television was tuned to a news channel. 

“Oliver Queen is alive.”

She dropped the paper coffee cup, that was thankfully now empty, and it fell to the floor with a small clatter. Her heart started to race, how could that be possible? How could he be alive? As if on cue, her phone began to ring. She picked it up off of the booth and answered it without tearing her eyes away from the tv screen, “Hello?”

“Rose, did you hear the news? Oliver is alive,” Her brother said into the phone excitedly.

Rose’s breath hitched at the sound of him saying Oliver’s name, it had been so long since she had heard that sound, “Yeah I heard Tommy, it’s all over the news.”

“I’m about to head over to the Queen’s house for dinner now, you wanna come with? I’ll come pick you up from wherever you are,” He offered.

“I ah- no thanks, Tommy. I need some time to process this,” She responded, hanging up before her brother could even respond. There was a heaviness in her chest that she couldn’t quite explain. How would she even face Oliver after everything that happened? How would she feel seeing him alive in person again? Would he even want to see her?

The questions ran around her head as she looked back toward her computer screen. She had a deadline to make. 

~ ~ ~

Rose headed out early the next morning to her book signing across town. She had been completely thrown off by the news of Oliver’s return, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from seeing her fans’ smiling faces. She smoothed down the front of her floral button down as she walked in the back door of the book store, “Good morning Rose,” her manager said with a bright smile. 

“Morning Matt, how are you?” She asked as they started to walk through the storeroom. She was used to walking through backdoors to avoid the crowded storefronts, but these types of places still give her the chills. 

“I’m doing well, but I’m more concerned for you sweetheart,” He said as he pulled the door to the back end of the store. 

She kept her voice down as to not attract the attention of the fans that were all gathered near the front, “Why are you worried about me?”

“I know you have a history with Oliver and I know I don’t know exactly what that means since you keep pretty quiet about it, but I know this news has to be affecting you somehow,” He explained, his eyebrows knitted together. 

“I promise I’m okay, thank you for your concern, but I am doing my best to just not think about it right now. I need to focus on getting through this signing. I want to enjoy talking with the people here, I don’t want to get caught up in thinking about my old high school sweetheart who came back from the dead,” She said, her eyes went wide when she realized what she had said. 

“That is not at all what I thought happened with him, but are you sure you’re okay?”

She nodded, “Yes I’m sure.”

“How’s your brother handling it?” He asked.

“Better than I am. He had dinner with Oliver and his family last night and he’s supposed to take Oli out on the town today. He invited me to go dinner with him, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just… I don’t know if he wants to see me again you know? High school was a long time ago and we were friends for a time after everything happened, but… we weren’t on the best terms when he disappeared,” Rose found herself shaking as she got out her thoughts. She never thought she’d spill any of that to Matt, but she at least felt a little better after telling someone.

Matt put his hand on her shoulder, “Rose it’s okay. I’m sorry I brought it up, my intention was never to upset you.”

“No no it’s okay, I’m okay,” She replied as she took a deep breath and smiled at him, “I think it really helped me to talk about it a little bit… I’m ready to sign books until my hand cramps now,” she joked. 

“Okay if you’re sure,” Matt said with a soft smile. He sent a text to her security guard who had been running point with the bookstore’s team to meet the two of them in the back. He was there within two minutes with a big smile on his face.

“Are you ready for your signing Rose? The head of the security team that the bookstore hired will be standing next to you during the signing while I man the front door and the rest of the team is stationed throughout.”

“Yes I’m ready, thank you for all your hard work Derek, I really appreciate it,” She replied with a soft smile. 

“Anything for you Rose,” he answered and the three of them started to walk toward the main part of the store. Derek got Rose settled at her table with the security team’s head and he and Matt walked off in opposite directions. Matt went to make sure things behind the scenes ran smoothly while Derek went to stand outside of the front door. 

~ ~ ~

Tommy and Oliver drove down the city’s streets in Tommy’s expensive car as they talked, “And I am counting on another target rich environment for your welcome home bash,” Tommy said with a small smile as he drove.

“Wait, my what?” Oliver asked, looking over at his best friend.

“You came back from the dead, this calls for a party! You tell me where and when, I’ll take care of everything,” Tommy explained. Oliver had a genuine smile on his face. “This city had gone to crap,” Tommy complained as the car came to a quick stop in the neighborhood that held Oliver’s father’s old factory. Oliver looked over at the building, it looked so worn down, “Your dad sold his factory just in time. Why’d you wanna drive through this neighborhood anyway?”

Oliver kept his eyes trained on the abandoned factory, “no reason.”

Tommy looked over at him, causing him to turn his attention back to the driver, “So what’d you miss the most? Steaks at the Palm? Drinks at the station? Meaningless sex?” He asked Oliver. 

Oliver didn’t even have to think about it, “Rose.” 

“What? My sister?” Tommy asked his brows furrowed.

Oliver gulped, looking down at his hands, “Well Rose, Laurel, Thea, and you.” 

Tommy let out a sigh, “Everyone is happy you’re alive, you wanna see the one person who isn’t? And the one who was spooked by it?” 

It was Oliver’s turn to furrow his brows, “What do you mean ‘spooked’?”

Tommy looked away from Oliver, “One of the people I think struggled the most with your… disappearance was Rose. It took her longer than pretty much anyone except maybe your immediate family to get back to close to normal. I used to have to go over to her place every morning and force her to get out of bed, so needless to say, she was a little uneasy after she heard the news.” Oliver felt a pain in his chest that he had no explanation for as he processed Tommy’s words. He had only thought about what the last five years were like for him, not what it was like for his family, friends, and Rose. “I'll tell you what, I’ll take you to see Laurel and after that, we’ll see about going to see Rose,” Oliver responded with a small nod and Tommy started to drive once again. 

 

The drive to Laurel’s place of work was short and Oliver’s conversation with her was even shorter. As Tommy had pointed out, Laurel was not that happy to see him. They had a bit of a small talk type of conversation before Oliver apologized for her sister’s death. This really didn’t go over well, leaving Oliver to feel a little down. It went about how he was expecting it to, but it still hurt to know how much pain he had caused Laurel and her family. Tommy and Oliver started to walk back to the car. Tommy could feel Oliver’s discomfort, he let out a sigh as he realized what would help pick his day up, “I’ll take you to see my sister if you want. She has a book signing at the Barnes and Nobles downtown. She should be finishing up in the next hour or so.”

Oliver’s face lit up as they both got in the car, “She has a book signing? That must mean she finally published that book she always said she would write huh?”

“Yeah actually she’s published two since you’ve been gone, in fact, her third is supposed to come out in about six months,” Tommy explained as he started to drive his car toward the bookstore.

“Really? That’s amazing. After what you told me I was worried she would have decided not to work on her novel anymore, I’m glad she finished it,” Oliver said with a small smile.  
Tommy gave Oliver a quick confused look before putting his eyes back on the road, “I mean she stopped writing for about six months after, but she eventually got back to it. Why would she have stopped completely?”

“We talked about it often. She used to read to me a lot. It started with her reading me classic literature and whatever books I had to read for homework, but eventually, it moved to her reading passages of her own novel out loud to me. She said it helped her catch her mistakes, but I just enjoyed listening to the story. She’s amazing with words and sometimes when I was on the island I would wonder about her and if she had finished her book. I hoped that one day we could pick up where we left off in chapter 11 and finish reading it,” Oliver expanded.

Tommy smiled softly, remembering how happy his sister was when she would get home from reading with Oliver. He never understood why it made her so happy, but he was pleasantly surprised to hear how happy it made Oliver. “Well, if you’re lucky she might read it to you, but if not I’m sure she’d love if you picked up a copy and told her what you think.”

“I’ll definitely find out what happened to Markus and Genna one way or another,” Oliver said as they pulled into the bookstore. The parking lot was completely packed; cars in every space and people all over the place. “Is this because of the signing?” Oliver asked.

“How many people do you think would be here on a weekday morning if it wasn’t for the signing? My sister has become quite the city celebrity. I mean, she’s a New York Times Bestselling Author and donates a lot of her earnings to charities.”

“I’m glad she’s doing so well,” Oliver said as they got out of the car, they parked around the side of the building in an alley to avoid the craziness. 

“Yeah me too,” Tommy said as they walked up to the front door. There were at least twenty teens and young adults loitering along the sidewalk in front of the store, but Tommy moved swiftly past them like he was used to it. “Hey Derek,” Tommy said as he approached the security guard that stood outside the door. 

“Mr. Merlyn, what brings you here?” Derek asked.

“Please Derek Mr. Merlyn is my father, you know you can call me Tommy. As for what I’m doing here, my good friend Oliver here is just dying to see Rose so we thought we’d stop by and see if we could say hi,” Tommy explained, Oliver and Derek shook hands.

“It’s good to meet you, Oliver,” Derek said before turning his attention back to Tommy, “there are about 15 people left in line, but you’re welcome to wait around inside for her to finish.”

“Thanks, Derek,” Tommy replied as the security guard stepped aside so the two could make there way inside. They stood inside the space between the doors to the outside and the set of double doors that lead into the store. Oliver was about to open the door, but Tommy grabbed his shoulder. “I know you’re excited to see her, but she can’t drop everything and talk to you, she has to finish what she’s doing first.”

“I got it, Tommy, I can wait for her to talk with 15 people, it won’t take that long,” Oliver responded before pulling open the door and walking into the store. He was hit with the smell of the paper and the coffee from the small drinks shop in the left front corner. He looked there briefly before looking to his right. His eyes fell on Rose’s small frame. She was slightly hunched over, signing a copy of a book. She was smiling brightly at the teenager in front of her as she handed him his book back. Her brunette locks were pulled back in a beautiful braided updo and her button-down looked perfect with her high waisted jeans. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. 

“You good there Oliver?” Tommy asked, noticing that his best friend’s eyes were glued to his sister.

“Yeah yeah I’m good, she’s just- she’s changed a lot,” Oliver said.

Tommy chuckled, “Yeah she finally grew out of her babyface about a year ago.” Oliver nodded slightly, he was only kind of listening to him. Rose turned towards the door because one of the kids who was walking away said a final goodbye. Before she could focus back on the signing, her eyes met Oliver’s. Her eyes were still the pure blue he remembered from the last time he saw her. The faded picture he had of the two of them on the island didn’t do her justice. She widened her eyes at him before a pink tint found its way to her cheeks. She turned her attention back to the teen in front of her. “Looks like you were spotted,” Tommy teased, “Feeling better yet?”

“A bit yeah,” Oliver replied, he noticed that Rose started to pick up the pace with the people at the end of the signing. He felt a little bad for being the reason it got cut a little short, but he was so antsy about how their conversation would go that the feeling of guilt soon faded. 

Before Oliver could really register she was finished, she said goodbye to the last person in line. She spoke to her manager for a moment before looking back at Oliver and Tommy. Tommy sent her a small wave while Oliver sent her a small smile. She returned both before heading over to the men near the door. “Oli,” She breathed as she made it over to him.

“Hello Rose,” He said, her heart rate picked up at the sound of her name coming from him. She tried to hold the urge to hug him in, but it soon failed. She launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around his middle as tightly as she could and burying her face in his chest. He didn’t even stumble at the force, he just smiled and wrapped one arm around her back and placed the other one on the back of her head. He rested his chin on the top of her head. He closed his eyes, completely relaxing for the first time in five years.

She almost wanted to cry, she had been dreaming of this hug for so long, “It’s so good to hear your voice again Oli.”

“It’s so good to see you again Rose, I missed your voice and your hugs,” Oliver confessed, he honestly didn’t care that Tommy was watching.

“You’re the one who gives good hugs,” She stated.

“I beg to differ sunshine,” Oliver countered, the nickname made her heart flutter. God, she had missed him. She remembered her brother was watching and tried to move away, but Oliver held on just a bit tighter, “not yet… please.” His voice was quiet and it almost sounded weak. 

She gripped the fabric of his shirt tighter, “Oli…”

“Well, I have never felt like more of a third wheel in the presence of not a couple in my life,” Tommy said eventually. 

The two pulled apart, both of them sad from the lack of warmth and contact, “And I hate to be the downer in this situation,” Matt said as he walked over, “But we have to go, Rose, you have a meeting with the people from that magazine in 45 minutes. You have to get changed still and we have to drive over there. We need to leave within the next two minutes to stay on schedule.”

Rose let out a long sigh, “I’m sorry I have to go, can we catch up soon?”

“Of course, according to your brother, I’m required to have a homecoming party, would you like to come?” Oliver asked.  
“I would love to Oli-”

“Rose,” Matt warned.

“I’ll see you soon,” She turned to her brother, “And Tommy? Don’t get him into any trouble, I expect for both of you to still be in one piece the next time I see you.”

“I’ll keep him out of trouble, don’t you worry little sister,” Tommy said as she turned to walk away.

“Bye Rose,” Oliver said with a small sort of sad smile.

“Goodbye Oli.”


	2. Lover Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the day I'm posting this, I met Steven Amell and John Barrowman! They were both lovely!! I'm meeting David Tennant, getting a picture with John Barrowman in cosplay, and taking a picture with Mark Sheppard (I got his autograph today)! Conventions are the bomb dudes even though they are exhausting. Now that my fan personing is out the way,  
> IMPORTANT UPDATE! I am getting home from con only to leave again to go to college orientation and right after that is my graduation... So I'm very busy lol. As soon as all of that is over next Saturday I will have a lot more time to write. I can't wait to work more on this story and all my other ones (a few of which are close to the end!) Thanks for being patient and being lovely in the comments. -Cas

Rose walked out of the magazine’s headquarters annoyed by the feeling of the heels strapped to her feet. They felt like foot death traps. “Why did I let you convince me to wear a dress and heels for that meeting Matt?” 

He chuckled, “Because I told you you’d look amazing and professional, both of which are true.”

“While that might be true, I’m extremely uncomfortable,” Rose whined as they made it to her car. 

“I do apologize for that, I had no idea that that meeting was going to end up being a few hours long,” Matt said.

“It’s alright, the only thing on my schedule for the rest of the day is to write, which I can do in a hoodie and sweats,” Rose said with a smile as she opened the driver’s door of her 1957 mint Ford Thunderbird. 

“Sounds like a good plan. Just so you know, your phone vibrated in your briefcase while we were in there, you might want to check to see if the person left a message,” Matt said as he opened the passenger door and set her briefcase on the seat.

“Thanks, Matt, I’ll check in with you in the morning,” Rose replied as she got into her car. 

“No problem, talk to you tomorrow Rose,” he said as he shut the door and headed to his own car a few spots over. 

Rose turned on her car and reached over to her briefcase to check her phone. There was three missed class from Thea and several texts. Rose quickly opened the messages quickly, a wave of heat washing over her.

TODAY 3:45 PM

Thea ♡: Oliver & Tommy were kidnapped as they left your signing  
Thea ♡: They’re safe, at the police station  
Thea ♡: Call me when you get the chance

TODAY 5:32 PM

Thea ♡: I’m guessing your meeting ran over, but I just wanted to update you  
Thea ♡: Oliver and Tommy are at my family’s, Detective Lance is on his way to question them, he should be here any minute  
Rose: omg I’m so sorry I didn’t see these until now  
Rose: I’m on my way  
Rose: We can talk after I see the boys  
Thea ♡: okay, no worries  
Thea ♡: take a deep breath and drive safe, they are okay  
Thea ♡: see you soon lover girl

Rose rolled her eyes at the nickname before throwing her phone to the passenger seat and taking off towards the Queen’s house at just above the speed limit. 

When she arrived at the mansion there was a police car in the driveway. She quickly parked her car and hopped out as fast as she could manage while still wearing heels. She knocked on the door vigorously, it almost immediately swung open. Thea smiled at her, “With those heels on you’re almost the same height as me,” she teased, “You should wear body con dresses more often, you look hot.”

Rose rolled her eyes as a blush came to her cheeks, “Not gonna happen, Thea,” she said lightly as she entered the house, “Where are Tommy and Oliver?”

“They’re in the sitting room talking with Detective Lance,” Thea replied, “Apparently they were rescued by some guy in a green hood.” Rose gave Thea a confused look, the teen put her hands up in defense, “That’s just what I overheard, don’t stare down the messenger.” Rose fidgeted with the bottom of her dress. She usually pulled at the end of her shirt when she was nervous, but since she was wearing a mid-length dress, the hem of that was the closet she was going to get to the bottom of a button down. “Hey, Rose are you okay? You’re doing your fidgety thing,” Thea asked, the concern was clear in her voice. She set her hand on Rose’s shoulder to try to comfort her.

Rose let go of the dress’ material that had been balled up in her fists, “Yeah I’m okay, yesterday and today have just been a lot you know? Then all of this on top? Is someone really already trying to go after Oliver. I mean he just got back and he-”

“Rose, sweetheart, you’re spiraling take a deep breath,” Thea interrupted calmly. She set her other hand on Rose’s other shoulder, using it to pull the slightly distraught writer in for a hug. 

Rose leaned into the hug and let out a sigh, “Thanks Thea, sometimes my mind just goes off and I have a hard time reigning it back in.”

“I know, but I’m always here to talk if you need to,” Thea said with a small smile as she pulled away, “And I know you’re always only a phone call away if I need anything.”

“Very true, I don’t care if it’s a ride or just an ice cream session where you complain about boys. I’m only across town,” Rose answered, “Now before we get all mushy and caught up in talking, I wanna see the boys.”

“Your wish is my command,” Thea joked as she started to walk toward the sitting room. 

“If Oliver can think of anything else, he’ll be in touch. Thank you, gentlemen, for coming,” Rose could hear Walter say as she and Thea approached the room. 

Rose stood at the entry with Thea, they weren’t entirely visible to the room full of people, Oliver could sense their presence behind him. They had enough of a view to see the players, “Your luck never seems to run out does it,” Detective Lance said quietly to Oliver before he made his move to leave. Rose’s jaw clenched as the maid started to lead Lance and his partner out of the room. Thea and Rose stepped to the side just enough for the three of them to get out of the room, but Rose’s face is set as stern and cold as she could muster. She’s not a very intimidating person. The Detective gave her an odd look before turning his head away from her. She watched as the police left, Thea entered the room just as her mom and step dad went out the other door. 

“I may or may not have let in a slightly anxious visitor,” Thea stated to Oliver and Tommy. 

“Who could that possibly be?” Tommy asked in a sarcastic tone.

At the sound of her brother’s voice, Rose’s attention snapped back to the sitting room. She walked fully into the room, smiling as she saw her brother sitting on the couch and Oliver standing over near the window. They both looked unharmed, “I’m so glad that you’re both okay,” She said as she breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Rose…” Oliver said before gulping. His throat was completely dry and he suddenly felt speechless. He had only seen her in a dress a few times.

“Woah baby sister is this what you wear to your meetings? No wonder you get hit on by all the editors and magazine hacks,” Tommy teased.

A blush once again found its way to her cheeks, “Shut up Tommy!”

“Are you okay? You seem a little overwhelmed,” Oliver asked as he walked over to stand in front of her. 

Her blush became a deeper red, “Oh yeah I’m fine. I was just worried about you guys you know? You just got back and there’s still so much to talk about and reintroduce you to and you got kidnapped leaving my signing I just-” Oliver cut her off not by words, but by action. He pulled her into his arms for the second time that day and she instantly calmed down. He and Tommy were okay, everything was okay. She wrapped her arms around his middle, and his once again were split between her head and her back. “Why is everyone hugging me today?” She asked quietly.

“Because you like hugs and they help you stay grounded,” He replied.

“But you don’t like hugs Oli,” She countered.

“I like your hugs and I have five years worth to catch up on,” he answered.

Her whole face was on fire at this point, she could feel Tommy and Thea’s eyes burning into her back. She pulled away from the hug, knowing as much as she wanted to stay in his arms, it wasn’t right without talking everything through first, “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Hey I’m your brother and I was kidnapped too,” Tommy sneered. Rose rolled her eyes and walked over to her brother who was now standing up next to the couch. 

“I’m glad you’re okay too Tommy, what would I do without my older brother around to drive me insane?” Rose joked as she pulled him in for a hug. He gave her a longer hug than usual, but it was still pretty short. 

“So now that we’re all safe and sound and in the same room, how about we talk about Oliver’s homecoming party?” Tommy asked.

Thea’s eyes lit up, “You guys can stay here and figure out the details, Rose and I have some of our own things to do to get ready for it,” she said with a smirk.

Rose crossed her arms over her chest, “like what exactly?”

“Like getting you a new dress,” Thea fired back.

Rose glared at the younger girl, “No way.”

Thea rolled her eyes, “Rose I know the dress you’re wearing is the only dress in your closet at this point and that look only works for things at the office, not at a club.” Thea grabbed Rose’s hand, “We’re going shopping.”

Thea started to drag Rose out of the room, “Looks like I’m not getting a choice here, bye Tommy, bye Oli!”

“Bye Rose!” They said in unison, “Don’t be out too late Thea!” Oliver added.

Rose pulled back on Thea’s hand, “Do you mind if I change into my spare shoes in the car before we get going? These stupid shoes are killing my feet.”

“I don’t mind at all, though those shoes are super cute,” Thea said as she let go of Rose’s hand and opened the door. 

“They aren’t cute enough for me to think the pain is worth it,” Rose mused as the pair walked towards her car. “I don’t mind going shopping with you, but I doubt I’m going to find a dress that I like enough to wear. I just don’t really like them and honestly, if it wasn’t Oli’s homecoming party I wouldn’t go. I haven’t been to a party since before he left on the boat.”

Thea let out a sigh, “I know you don’t typically like dresses or parties, but I promise we won’t stop until we find an outfit you like and I won’t force you to get a dress if you really can’t find one you like. You can wear whatever you want, Oliver will think you’re cute no matter what, though I’m sure he’d be speechless if you showed up in a dress.” She finished with a smirk on her face.

Rose blushed brightly before glaring at Thea over the hood of her car, “Shut up and get in before I change my mind.”

“Whatever you say Lover Girl.”

~ ~ ~

“Thea this doesn’t seem to be panning out well. None of these dresses fit me great and there’s no time for alterations since the party tomorrow. I still can’t believe Oliver wants it so soon,” Rose said from the fitting room as she pulled on the 23rd dress that Thea had picked up for her. It was a beautiful pale yellow color and had an adorable sweetheart necklace, but there was too much fabric around Rose’s waist and the length was far too long on her short legs. “Thea?” She called out. Rose’s heartbeat picked up when she didn’t get a response from the young Queen. Thea was like a sister to her, she always tried to look out for her. Rose slipped out of her dressing room and looked down the long hall of rooms just like hers for traces of the teen. There was no sign of Thea and Rose’s panic level climbed until she came racing down the long hallway, a signal dress in tow. “Don’t run off like that, you scared me.”

“I’m not a child Rose, you don’t have to worry about me,” Thea reminded.

“No you’re not, but I still worry about you.”

“Well stop worrying about me and try on this dress, it’s the last one I promise, I think it’s going to be perfect,” Thea said with a smile as she handed the dress to Rose. The young adult sighed, but took the garment anyway. 

“This is the last one that I’m going to try on, after this I’m moving to pants and shirts,” Rose replied sternly.

“Okay that’s fine, but I really think this is going to be the one,” Thea said with a wink. Rose turned away and walked back into her dressing room. Thea watched her go until she shut the door and then she immediately grabbed her phone from her back pocket.

TODAY 8:31 PM

Thea: [ picture of dress ]  
Thea: Oliver’s jaw is going to hit the floor if she wears this to his party  
Tommy Merlyn: oh yeah it would, but you’ll never get her to wear that dress  
Thea: Really? Wanna bet Tommy?  
Tommy Merlyn: Sure. What do you wager?  
Thea: $200 says I can get her to wear the mini version of Cinderella's ball gown to Oli’s homecoming party  
Tommy Merlyn: You’re on Queen

Thea was smirking at her phone until she heard the door of the changing room open and shut. She looked over towards Rose and her jaw dropped. The top part was a beautiful light blue structured corset still piece, it fit her perfectly. The skirt part flared out from her waist and came to her mid-thigh. Both the corset and the bottom of the dress were decorated with gorgeous white lace. “You look so amazing Rose!”

A bright blush came to her cheeks, “Thanks Thea, you don’t think it’s too short?”

“Are you kidding? It’s the perfect length.”

“I’m not sure, I love it, it looks amazing, but it’s not really something I would normally wear.”

“Rose this is a special occasion! You’re supposed to dress up! Honestly, I’d be surprised if Oliver didn’t drop everything and beg you to go on a date with him in this dress,” Thea smirked. She knew the look on Rose’s face; hook, line, and sinker. 

“Oh please, Oliver’s never going to ask me out,” Rose paused as the two started to walk out of the dressing room area, “Not after everything that happened.”

Thea rolled her eyes, “Sweetheart you are way too hard on yourself. You always have been. Oliver hasn’t shut up about you since he got back. I asked him what he missed most about home. The answers were, ice cream, me, and you. He doesn’t care about the past at this point, he just happy to be back and that you’re doing well. If he asks you out, say yes okay?” Rose’s heart stopped for a split second as she processed what Thea had said. The two had made it to the checkout counter during the conversation and Rose gave the dress to the worker without even thinking about it, “He’ll do it you know.”

“Maybe, we’ll see what happens Thea.”

“Have faith in me Lover Girl.”

“Would you stop it with that nickname?!”

“Hey it was true five years ago and it’s still true now, and how much you hate it only proves its accuracy.”

“I’m done with you and your sassy remarks for the day Thea,” Rose said as she took the dress in it’s hanging bag from the cashier. She had already paid. “Thank you, have a nice day.”

“You know you wouldn’t know what to do without me Rose.”

“True.”

~ ~ ~

Rose dropped Thea off at home and watched her until she was safely inside her house, Oliver waved from the door. She smiled and waved back before she turned back towards her phone in her hand. She dialed Matt’s number. He answered after two rings, “You are going to hate me for this Matthew.”

“Oh no, I know you’re about to tell me terrible news when you call me my full name. What’s going on Rose?” Matt asked.

“Is it possible to push back the release date of the book a few months. You were right this morning. I’m not 100% and I need to figure some stuff out for myself before I can dive back into my work.”

He let out his loud and rather annoyed ‘I am done with you’ sigh, “I understand that, but is there any way you could finish it on time?”

Rose looked towards the Queens’ mansion, “I really don’t think so Matt. I’m sorry, but I want my best work to be the end of the series. I just can’t make the best product possible when my brain is going ‘does Oliver care about what happened before?’ 24/7.”

“Alright Rose I’ll work on extending the deadline three more months, but that’s all I can do without causing a major commotion.”

“Thank you, Matt, I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime Rose.”


	3. A Broken Locket and a Family Polaroid

Rose heard a knock at the door and she quickly raced to answer it. “Hi Thea,” She said with a small smile as she let the teen into her apartment. 

“Hey Rose, you ready for Oliver’s party tonight?” Thea asked as she set down her giant portable makeup bag on the counter. Rose rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. Thea crossed her arms over her chest, “What?”

“In all honesty, I’m having second thoughts about going,” Rose said shyly. 

Thea’s eyes bulged, “Oh no no no Rose you are not backing out of this now. I know that you get nervous and second guess yourself, but trust me. You are going to go and you’re going to have fun.”

Rose sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands, “I’m just really stressed out. This is all a lot you know? Like Oliver being back is a lot to process on its own, but I asked Matt to push back the release date of my next book a few months and it got leaked to the public today and some of my fans are throwing a fit. I had to turn off all my social media notifications because the messages and posts were just too much.”

Thea sat down next to her on the couch. She rubbed Rose’s shoulder gently, “I’m sorry you’re so stressed Rose, but maybe this party will do you some good you know? Get out and see the nightlife for a change. I know you haven’t been to a big party like this since Oliver, but I know if you go out you’ll get to unwind and have a bit of fun. On top of getting to breathe and dance to your heart content, you’ll get to see Oliver again.”

Rose looked towards her, “I know you’re right, but I feel like this party might too much for me. You know I don’t do great in crowds.”

“That’s why this venue is perfect for you Rose, there’s the main area and then a few side hallways where you could step out if it gets to be too much,” Thea explained, “Come on, let’s get ready, we don’t want to be late.”

“Alright Thea, let’s do it,” Rose said with a soft smile. 

Thea grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her up off the couch. “Let’s get to it! We’ll get your makeup done, then you can put on your dress, then I’ll do your hair!” 

“Whatever you say, Thea!” Rose laughed as Thea quickly grabbed her bag off the counter and dragged Rose to the bathroom. Rose sat down at her vanity and watched intently as Thea got to work pulling out everything she was going to need. 

“Okay, so I was thinking about going pretty light on contour and blush and all that kind of stuff on you and focusing more on the eyes. Maybe a light to dark eyeshadow look from the inner to the outer part of your eyelid and then like a pink nude pink. What do you think?” Thea asked as she pulled out a fairly large morphe eye shadow palette. 

Rose shrugged, “Whatever you want to do Thea, I’m open to your creative suggestions. What you have in mind seems good to me. You know I don’t know all that much about makeup.”

“Yeah I know you tend to go more natural, but I think this will look really pretty with your dress!” Thea said as she pulled the second tool out from the closet. Rose kept it there for times like this. 

“Then let’s do it!” 

~ ~ ~

Thea had left Rose at her apartment about an hour ago because as they were on the way out the door she got a call from Matt. Thea was mad that Matt, of course, had to call right then, but Rose texted that she was finally on her way there. Oliver had only been there a little while, as he decided that he needed to be fashionably late to his own party. Hopefully Rose would get there before things got too wild. Of course, Thea was already was a little tipsy, but she was still worried about her best friend’s arrival. This needed to go perfectly. Thea’s thoughts were pushed to the side when a guy came up to her, she knew him a bit. He was one of the guys who gave her her spill. She smiled and discreetly took it from him. Oliver came up to her only a few seconds later, “Oli hey, this party is sick!”

“Who let you in here. You were supposed to help Rose get ready and then get dropped off at home,” Oliver questioned as he pulled her over to the corner near the bar. Tommy was sitting a the other end with Laurel. 

“I believe it was somebody who said right this way Ms. Queen,” Thea said with a bright smile.

“Well, you shouldn’t be here.”

Thea’s face fell, “I’m not twelve anymore.”

“No you’re seventeen,” Oliver fired back.

“Oli, I love you, but you can’t come back here and judge me. Especially for being just like you.”

“I know that it couldn’t have been easy for you when I was away-”

“Away? No, you died. My brother and my father died. I went to your funerals,” She said through gritted teeth.

“I know.”

“No, you don’t. Mom had Walter, Rose had Tommy, and I had no one. You guys all act like it’s cool, let's forget about the whole last five years. Well, I can’t. That me’s kinda permanently in there, so I’m sorry if I turned out some major disappointment, but this me is the best I could do with what I had to work with,” Thea spat. Oliver could feel the pent up anger coming off of her. She was about to turn and leave when Tommy and Laurel came up to diffuse the situation. Tommy handed Oliver a drink. 

“Thanks,” He said briefly to Tommy, “You’re here,” Oliver said to Laurel, shocked that she had shown up. 

“Tommy, he made the point that we have too many years between us to leave things the way we left them. Is there someplace quieter that we could go?” 

Oliver tossed her a small smile as Thea rolled her eyes, “Yeah.”

The two were about to walk away from the main scene when Oliver spotted a flash of blue from the top of the stairs. He did a double take and his jaw dropped as he saw that the blue flash was Rose in a gorgeous blue dress. Her face was flushed and her smile was a little shakey from all the stares she was getting, but she was the most beautiful person Oliver had ever seen. Oliver tried to set his drink down on the bar, but he missed completely, the contents splashing on Thea’s legs, but she didn’t care. 

Tommy pulled out two one hundred dollar bills as Oliver walked toward her, “I can’t believe you got her to wear that.”

“I just had to work some of my magic,” Thea said with a smirk.

“You two are unbelievable,” Laurel scoffed as she crossed her arms. The three watched intently as Oliver made it over to Rose. 

“Rose… You look beautiful,” He said.

Her pink cheeks turned red, “Thanks Oli, you look pretty great yourself.”

“You wanna dance or get a drink?” Oliver offered.

“Thanks, Oli, but I don’t drink… and as much as I would love to dance, I was hoping we could talk about some stuff. I know this isn’t the best time since it's your party and all, but-”

“No Rose I don’t mind, let’s go somewhere quieter,” Oliver said as he gently took her hand in his. She smiled at him as she walked through the party with him, hand in hand. She noticed Thea giving her some thumbs up and Laurel glaring at her, or more specifically her locket, but she tried to just focus on the task at hand. After Thea had left her apartment, she talked with Matt who apologized profusely for the leak, but it got her thinking. She couldn’t go on with the questions in her head, none of that stress would have happened if she was just more direct with Oliver in the first place. “So what is it that you wanted to talk about?” Oliver asked. 

“I know you just got back, but Oliver what are we?” Rose asked with a heavy sigh.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said Oli, what are we? We were best friends, we dated for a little while, then you dumped me for reasons I still don’t know. You started dating Laurel and I was fine being one of your best friends again, but then you died. For the first few years I was a mess and I couldn’t get my act together and I finally did, but you’re back now and When I saw you at my signing and we hugged I felt like I got sent back to square one. Oli I care about you so much, but I can’t go through my days knowing you’re out there and we haven’t talked about any of this,” Rose vented, she fiddled with the chain of her locket. 

Oliver thought for a moment before deciding what to say next, “Rose… I know me being gone couldn’t have been easy and I’m sorry about that, I really am. I’m also sorry that coming back has caused you so much stress. I wanted to see you again as soon as I could and I was disappointed when you didn’t come over for dinner with Tommy. I begged him to take me to see you and Laurel because I know we all have a lot to talk about, but for a little while, just until things settle down a bit, can’t we just be?”

“Oliver… I don’t want to go on not knowing how you feel. If you don’t like me that’s fine, but I’d rather know than not. I also just want to talk about everything that happened just before you left. Oli I was giving you the silent treatment when you left. I kicked myself for that for years. I can’t just ignore it all now that you’re back,” Rose explained. She finally got the courage to look at him. She regretted it almost instantly. His eyes were filled with stress, worry, and sadness. She gulped as his phone beeped.   
He let out an annoyed sigh, “I’m so sorry Rose. I’ll be right back, stay here.”

“Is everything alright?” She asked.

“It will be, don’t go anywhere!” He said as he ran off. 

She let out a long sigh, “Unbelievable.” She had every right to smack that boy for running off after she poured her heart out, but she knew she would let it slide. She just hoped she wasn’t being too much of a bother to him. 

“Hey, where did Oliver go? I thought he left the party to hang out with you,” Laurel asked snarkily as she walked up to Rose. 

“Oh he got a text and he said he had to go take care of something. He said he would be back if you want to wait for him,” Rose explained.

“Are you sure he’s coming back?” Laurel questioned.

“Um… I think so? Why wouldn’t he?”

Laurel shrugged, “Are you sure that he didn’t just say a conveniently timed message told him he had to go?”

“Why would he do that?”

“Maybe to get away from you?”

“Excuse me?” Rose’s tone went from confused to offended.

“Look, Rose, I like you as a person I really do, but whenever Oliver is around it’s like you lose all your common sense. You act like the sweet supportive friend, but really you just want an excuse to be close him because you know he’ll never date you again. Face it, Rose, you need to move on and stop clinging on to a relationship from your sophomore year of high school. You’re what? Like 25 now? You need to grow up and stop wearing a locket with your prom pictures with your ex-boyfriend in them!” Rose was appalled by Laurel’s tone, but she was even more so by her next action. Before Rose could react, Laurel ripped the locket off of her, the chain making a soft yet horrible snapping sound before Laurel threw it to the ground. 

Rose stared at the broken locket on the ground before she glared at Laurel, “H-How could you? HOW COULD YOU?!” Rose felt the tears start to roll down her cheeks, “I know we haven’t seen eye to eye in a long time Laurel, but this, this was uncalled for. Oli gave that to me and when I was really struggling after his death it helped me cope and remember the good times. I know we probably won’t date again, I doubt he even felt that way about me the first time, but I cherish that necklace. It was the first time someone gave me a thoughtful gift. My brother and father never cared about that kind of shit, but Oliver did… You should go.”

Laurel seemed shocked, “Rose I-” 

“What’s going on here?” Tommy asked as he trotted over. He looked between his crying half-sister and his crush. 

“I’m gonna go,” Laurel said as she quickly began to walk away. Rose sank to the ground where the necklace was. She picked up off the floor as she leaned against the railing. Tommy sat down next to her and she played with the broken chain.

“What happened Rose?” he asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Laurel broke the locket that Oli gave me back in high school, on purpose. Why would she do that on purpose? It’s just a necklace why would it make her so angry that I still have it?” Rose cried.

“Deep breaths Rose, I don’t know why she did it, but it’ll be alright. We’ll get you a new chain or get that one fixed okay?” Tommy tried to calm her down, “Where’s Oliver anyway?”

“He had to go do something, he said he would come back as soon as he was done.”

Tommy moved his arm off of her, “Okay, I’m gonna go look for him and have a talk with Laurel if I can find her, you sit and deep breathe for a few minutes okay? It’ll be okay Rose I promise.” She nodded to him and he stood up. He headed back to the main party and looked for a good few minutes and couldn’t find Oliver or Laurel. Just after he decided to give up looking, Laurel’s dad and a few other cops came in. “Ah Mr. Merlyn, imagine the shock of finding you here. Did you roofie anyone’s special tonight?” Tommy laughed. 

“Detective,” Oliver said as he walked over, “It’s a private party.”

“Yeah well there was an incident at Adam Hunt’s building tonight, you know anything about that?” 

“Who’s Adam Hunt?” Oliver asked.

“He’s a millionaire bottomfeeder and I’m kinda surprised you aren’t friends,” The detective fired back.

“I’ve been out of town for a while.”

“Yeah, well he just got attacked by the guy with the hood. The guy that saved your ass the other day.”

“The hood guy? You can’t find him? I’m gonna offer a reward,” Oliver turned toward the rest of the party, “Hey everybody, two million dollars to anybody that can find a nutbar in a green hood.” Everyone raised their drinks to Oliver’s statement. 

Oliver turned back toward the detective, “Did you even try to save her?”

“Let’s go, partner,” His right hand tried to push his chest back from Oliver, but he wasn’t moving. 

“Did you even try to save my daughter?”

“Sara wouldn’t want this,” His partner interjected. He finally made the detective leave and Oliver made his way onto the small stage.

“It’s way too quiet in here. This is a party!” The crowd started up again and Oliver made his way back to Tommy.

“Some coincidence, I mean you asking to have your party here and Hunt getting and Hunt getting robbed right next store and by the same guy who rescued us at the warehouse?” Tommy asked.

“If I were you, Tommy, I’d just be glad you’re alive,” Oliver said with a small smile.

“What happened to you on that island?” 

Oliver kept a straight face, “A lot.” 

“I’m sorry for bringing it up, but speaking of a lot, something happened between Laurel and my sister while you vanished. You should go talk to Rose like right now, she’s pretty upset,” Tommy said as he took a pretty big swig of his drink. 

“Why didn’t you start with that?” Oliver asked before he ran off to go back to Rose. She was sitting where she had been standing, her face was stained with tear streaks. “Rose, Rose what happened? Why were you crying?” Oliver watched her quickly shove something into her purse as she stood up, but he couldn’t get a good look.

“Thanks for the party Oli, but I think I’m going to head out now.”

“What? Rose hold on a minute let’s talk.”

She let out a small sigh, “You made it pretty obvious that you don’t want to talk about this when you ran off. I just need to sleep and reset… Goodnight Oli,” she said before she kissed his cheek.

“Goodnight Rose,” he replied quietly as he watched her walk away. He walked back into the party after she was out of sight. He drowned himself in the music and small talk for another hour before the party was really thinned out. He and Tommy were standing near the windows that looked out over the parking lot. They were laughing about random stuff when Oliver noticed something disturbing in the lot. Rose’s 1957 mint Ford Thunderbird was still in its parking place. “Tommy.” Oliver said seriously, “Something happened to Rose.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Her car is still in the parking lot, she said she was going home over an hour ago,” Oliver explained as he looked at the car.

“Maybe she got a ride home?” Tommy offered.

Oliver shook his head, “No. She didn’t drink anything and she would never leave that car in a parking lot overnight, it’s her prized possession.”

“You’re right,” Tommy gulped.

“I’ll check it out, keep an eye on things here,” Oliver said. He looked to Diggle who followed him.

“What’s going on?” Diggle questioned as they made their way out of the building. 

“Rose’s car is still here, she said she was leaving a long while ago and she would never leave her car somewhere overnight,” He explained quickly.

“You think something’s happened to her?” 

“I hope I’m wrong,” Oliver said as they made it outside. He bolted for the car. After nothing seemed wrong. “There’s a small dent near the front,” He said as his eyes scanned the passenger side front bumper. 

“Okay? Most cars have a dent somewhere or another, especially one so old,” Diggle theorized. 

“No. Rose makes sure this car is like new all the time, she’d never allow there to be a dent. Oliver went around to the front driver’s side door. His stomach dropped. There was a much larger dent at the top of the door and it was smeared with red. “Diggle.”

Diggle walked over, “Oh shit.”

Oliver looked to the ground next to him, her small nighttime clutch had its contents spilled out, like she had dropped it. There was her phone, her wallet, the locket that he had gotten her in high school with a snapped chain, and a polaroid from the same time period. It had her, him, Thea, and Tommy in it. He picked it up off the ground. He knew she always carried pictures with her, but this picture at this moment broke his heart. “Call the police. Clear out the party. Tell Tommy that she was taken.”

“What are you going to do?” Diggle inquired.

“I’m going to find her.”


	4. Worry Wort

As Oliver sat in the arrow cave, he watched the money he stole from Adam Hunt go back to all the rightful people. He was happy with his job well done, but he also was in an internal state of panic and regret. If he hadn’t gone after Hunt at the party, he would have finished his conversation with Rose and she might not have tried to leave when she did. This all might not have happened. He looked toward the second computer screen, it was pulling up the footage from when Rose was taken. It was taking a few minutes to scan through to get to the time code he had put in for right around when Rose would have made it outside. He tapped his foot vigorously on the ground until he heard the computer beep, indicating that it had reached the correct spot. He watched the footage closely, a few minutes into it he saw Rose walk out of the building. She headed for her car and everything seemed fine. She dug through her purse for her keys as she approached the passenger door, as she went to unlock the door she dropped her rather large keychain on the front part of the car just past the door. That was the first small dent that Oliver saw. He watched as she examined it annoyedly before abandoning whatever task she had at that side of the car and walked over to the driver's door. She went to stick the key in the keyhole, but a shadowy figure who was wearing a fancy jumpsuit and a pair of short heeled boots banged her head into the top of her door. That was the second dent. Oliver watched with his fist clenched as the culprit dragged her away from her car, leaving all her stuff behind. His eyes were trained on the figure, he could tell it was a female, but he could tell anything else until he froze it on an image of her face. It was high enough resolution that he was sure it could be matched to a driver’s license or some other record. He changed the computer’s directive to focus on finding out who that girl was when caught a glimpse of the polaroid that he had picked up at the crime scene along with the broken locket. He couldn’t believe she still had that necklace, he really couldn’t believe that she still wore it and that he didn’t recognize it. He picked the picture up from underneath the necklace. This picture was of him, Thea, Rose, and Tommy. He remembered his mother took it, it was from when Rose was in middle school, Tommy and he were in high school, and Thea was just a kid. Thea was on his back and Rose was on Tommy’s, this was the first picture that had ever been taken with Rose’s Polaroid camera. He smiled at the memory of that day. After this picture was taken the four of them went into the city and spent the day at a local arcade. Tommy had just gotten his license and terrified them all with his driving “skills”. He laughed to himself at the thought before he reached into his pocket and pulled out another polaroid that had been taken with the same camera. This one, though newer, looked much much older. The time it spent with him on the island made it that way. Looking at it took him back to the life raft.

 

Oliver leaned against his Dad as he dazedly lay awake, Rose’s journal clutched tightly in his hands. The picture of the two of them was stuck in the strings tied around the book’s circumference to keep it closed. Oliver didn’t care that she had just tried to burn it, it was one of the very few things he had connecting him to home right now. “There’s not enough for all of us.”

“Save your strength,” Oliver replied weakly. 

“You can survive this,” His dad fired back, “make it home. Make it better.”

Oliver was confused, but continued to stare blankly ahead as he fumbled with the edge of the photograph, “right my wrongs, but you gotta live through this first.” Oliver started to drift off, “You hear me Oli? You hear me son?”

Oliver looked up at him for the first time since the conversation began, “Just rest dad.” He said before settling in. He closed his eyes and clutched the book again. 

“Yup,” his father responded before kissing his temple. He lifted sleeping Oliver off of him and whipped a gun out of his jacket. He aimed it at the other man on the raft. He shot him before he had any chance to protest.   
Oliver jumped away at the sound of the gunshot, he almost through the book over the edge of the raft, but he managed to tighten his grip on it again as his dad looked toward him. “Dad?!”

“Survive.” His dad last word.

“No! NO!” 

 

He came out of the flashback, startled, but alright. He looked at the picture he had on the island one more time before harshly shoving it back into his pocket. He needed to get her back, get back his sunshine. 

~ ~ ~

Rose’s head was pounding. The fluorescent bulbs that high hung over her head seemed unrealistically bright. She couldn’t even bring herself to open her eyes immediately. Why did she feel like she had the world’s worst hangover? She didn’t drink anything at Oliver’s party. That’s when she remembered. Someone coming up behind her, her head hitting her car, her body falling to the ground, someone standing over her as she blacked out. She groaned at the pain as she opened her eyes for the first time. It was blurry, but she could tell she was in a warehouse, a big one. As her vision cleared, she realized her middle was tied to a desk chair, her legs tied to the legs of the chair, and each of her hands was cuffed to hooks on the desk that looked like it had been added for this purpose. She had enough room to hover her hands over the keyboard that rested in front of her, but that was the most she could move. What the hell was this? “Oh good, you’re awake,” a familiar voice said from behind her. She couldn’t quite place it though.

The owner of the voice came into her line of sight, but they were wearing a mask, “Why are you doing this?” Rose asked the figure. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” The figure watched Rose carefully, quickly realizing that their voice was not enough. They rolled their eyes, “You don’t recognize me like this do you?” Rose shook her head. The figured sighed, “Maybe this will help.” They took off their mask, revealing a girl who couldn’t be older than 20. She had soft features and her long blonde hair was pinned at the base of her neck in a cute bun. It was slightly messy, but Rose could tell that she had meant for it to be a fancy style and it had only recently been ruined by the mask. 

“Arie? Why…?” 

“Why would I kidnap my favorite author? It’s quite simple really. For years I have supported you and your work. I have all of your books, every edition, I waited in lines a mile long to get your books the day they came out in stores. I’ve been to almost every book signing you’ve ever had, I have even met and have the autographs of most of your friends… and how do you repay me for years of loyalty? Pushing back the release of the final book in your most popular trilogy and all because of stupid Oliver Queen. Well, I can’t wait anymore. I’ve already hacked your computer and read what you have written, you’re going to sit here until you finish the last book.”

“Arie I-”

“What are you waiting for Merlyn? WRITE!” She said as she pulled a gun out from behind her back. Rose gulped, tears sat at her waterline as she focused on the computer screen. All the previous chapters were loaded up, she debated trying to get a message out to someone, but there were no bars on the laptop, so she began to type in the open word document. 

~ ~ ~

“By the way, your cute friend is here,” Joanna said after telling Laurel about a grateful phone call she had gotten from a client she had against Adam Hunt. 

Laurel spun her chair around to see Tommy standing there, he flashed a smile, but it soon faded. She could tell by the slightly unreadable expression on his face that he was feeling pretty mixed emotions, “We need to talk.”  
“Alright, let’s take a walk outside,” She said as she shot him a smile.

The two of them made their way outside in silence, Tommy broke it once he was sure that they were alone. “You left the party pretty quick last night, even after I made sure the bar was stocked with Pinot Noir.”

Laurel smiled and shook her head, “It wasn't really my scene.”

Tommy suddenly became a lot more serious, “I heard you and Rose went mano-a-mano again… and by that, I mean that you broke one of my sister’s prized possessions while she probably stood there and cried. She’s too much of a Hufflepuff to punch you, though I’m sure she really wanted to.”

Laurel let out a sigh, “Listen, Tommy, I shouldn’t have done that and while no, she didn’t punch me, she did yell at me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that upset in the whole time I’ve known her. I was upset and I overreacted, next time I see her I’m going to apologize and offer to pay for a new chain.”

“While I appreciate that offer, that’s gonna be kind of hard,” Tommy said as he rubbed his temples.

“What? Why?”

“Rose hasn’t been seen since the party last night. Her car was found with a bloody dent in the door in the parking lot,” Tommy explained.

“Oh my god, Tommy I’m so sorry. Is there any leads as to what happened to her?” Laurel asked as she rubbed his shoulder in hopes of releasing some of the tension he was carrying. 

“Oliver’s bodyguard call the police as soon as we noticed her car was still there an hour after she said she was leaving. Your dad came and took a look at the scene. The only evidence was the blood and her purse spilled out on the ground. Nothing was missing except the locket which Oliver said he had seen her put in there and a polaroid I know she carries around. Her wallet was there with nothing missing from inside it,” Tommy answered.

“I’m sure my dad will find her Tommy, it’s going to be okay,” She responded, she leaned her head against his shoulder. 

He pulled back from her touch, “Here I thought the only thing between us was Oliver, but in reality is Oliver and Rose.”

Laurel let out another sigh, “I wouldn't exactly characterize us as an ‘us,’ Tommy.” 

Tommy gave her a look, “Then what would you call it?”

“A lapse.”

Tommy nodded, “That's quite a few lapses... your place, my place, my place again.” 

Laurel crossed her arms, “Oh, come on, Merlyn. We both know that you're not a one-girl type of guy.”

“Depends on the girl.”

Laurel rolled her eyes, “I have to go back to work. Keep me updated on Rose’s situation.”

Tommy gave her a soft smile, “Dinah Laurel Lance always trying to save the world.”

“Hey. If I don't try and save it, who will?”

“And Laurel? I will. I hope they find her soon.”

“Me too Tommy, me too,” She said as she headed back inside. 

Tommy walked towards his car, leaning against it he debated who he should call. He settled on one of the two people in his mind and dialed. “What do you need Tommy? I’m a little busy right now.”

“I hope you’re busy trying to find Rose because your own daughter’s safety should mean a lot more than any business deal you have going on dad,” Tommy spat.

“I have my best people on it. She will be found, you can stop stressing out. All of your worrying is giving me wrinkles,” Malcolm sneered back before hanging up. Tommy cursed under his breath. His dad was unbelievable sometimes, he knew that Rose and he didn’t see eye to eye all the time, but that was no excuse for how he was handling this. He tried to keep his cool in front of Laurel and he did, for the most part, he kept up his classic flirty sarcastic personality… but he was beyond worried. His hands were shaky and he couldn’t think about much else. He could never forgive himself if something happened to his baby sister when he was so close by. He called the other person he had been debating between. It rang for a good four rings before his best friend answered, “Tell me the detective has contacted you with something Oli, I’m going mad here.”

Oliver sighed into the phone, “I wish I could say he had reached out, but he hasn’t.”

Tommy wiped his hand across his face, “What can we do Oliver? I can’t just sit here and let other people handle it. I need to be doing something to help. I mean- what if something happened to her? Like something really bad Oli? What if she’s-”

“Tommy stop, you’ve got to breathe. I’m sure the police are doing everything they can to find her and when they do find something they will call one of us,” Oliver said as he watched the computer screen closely. It had been searching for what seemed like forever trying to match the picture from the camera to a driver’s license, student ID, or some other form of identification. 

“How are you so calm Oli? Aren’t you worried at all?”

“I am worried Tommy, but we have to try to have clear judgment. I will find her.”

“You?” Tommy asked confused, “What are you going to do?”

“I… I just mean that I’m going to do whatever I can to help the police okay?” Oliver replied. 

Tommy was confused by Oliver’s response and was about to question him more thoroughly, but heard beeping coming from the other side of the phone, “What was that?”

“I’m gonna have to call you back Tommy,” Oliver said, he was off the phone in an instant. The computer had finally matched the picture to a girl named Arie Hale. Her father was one of the seemingly good businessmen in the city, his name wasn’t on the list. He owned a company that worked mostly importing goods. Why would Arie have a reason to kidnap Rose? Oliver dug deeper into Arie’s personal life; her social medias and those of her friends. He noticed very quickly how many pictures she had of Rose and Rose’s books on her Instagram and how many angry tweets were in her twitter feed about Rose delaying her latest book’s release. This could very well be able that. Oliver quickly moved to finding locations that the Hale family owned that Arie could be using to hold Rose. Her father’s company-owned an old storage warehouse not too far from where he was now and by the records it hadn’t been used in years. “I’m coming Rose, hold on.”


	5. First Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I just want to throw this info out there; I have just moved away to college and have started my classes this week! While this is v exciting and wild, it means that I don't have as much time to sit down and write. I apologize in advance if my updates on any of my stories are slow, but I will do my best to update as often as I can! ALSO, I greatly appreciate any comments I get, they really motivate me to work on a particular story! If you have any thoughts or reactions you wanna share, please do! (I'm going to post this note on my next few updates so I'm sorry if you're reading more than one of my stories and see this a few times lol). Thanks for being amazing you guys! -Cas

Rose wasn’t sure how long she had been writing, but it felt like hours. She was tired, she was cold, and above all her anxiety was off the charts. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking as she typed garbled sentences about her characters. She knew there was a good chance the detective was getting close to figuring it out and that Oliver and Tommy were doing whatever they could to find her, but she was starting to lose hope. Arie stood behind her, reading over her shoulder. Everything was quiet aside from the clicking of the keys. “Arie Hale,” a deep male voice said out of nowhere. Both her and Arie’s heads snapped up, a hooded man holding a bow and arrow stood a little way in front of the desk. “Put the gun down.” The voice sounded familiar, but Rose didn’t have time to really think about it. 

Arie let out a laugh, grabbing Rose’s hair and holding the gun to her head. Rose let out a shaky breath at the feeling of the metal against her scalp. “Why? You brought a bow and arrow to a gunfight. I have nothing to be afraid of.”

The hooded man aimed the loaded bow at Arie. “You don’t want to do this Arie. If you put the gun down and back away from Miss Merlyn I can tell the police you cooperated. No one has to get hurt.”

“No! I’m the one with the gun! I make the calls here! No one is going anywhere until the book is finished! I need to know how it ends!” Arie fired back. She pulled Rose’s hair a little more.

“Why not wait for the release? Why did you take her from her friend’s party?” The man questioned. Arie didn’t seem to notice the small step he took forward, but Rose did. 

“I didn’t go to the party with this planned. I went to the party with the intention of talking to Oliver Queen. I got my hair done, paid someone to do my makeup, I even went out and bought a fancy jumpsuit! I was going to sneak in and give that stuck up billionaire a piece of my mind, but I saw Rose leaving the party and this idea popped into my head. I couldn’t resist. But, I mean, it’s because of Queen that Rose pushed back the release date of the book in the first place! Why is he so important?! We all thought he was dead for five years, why is he even that relevant? Before he disappeared all the papers and blogs said they weren’t even that close! So why is he more important than the happiness of her entire fanbase?!” Arie ranted.

“Arie-” Rose tried.

“Shut up!” Arie spat as she pulled Rose’s hair even more.

A small whimper came out of her mouth, the hooded man’s jaw set. “It’s not that Oliver Queen is more important to her than her fans, it’s that a childhood friend who she thought was dead suddenly appeared back in her life. Imagine someone you’ve known almost your whole life died and you mourned them, missed them, and moved on from them. Then suddenly they’re back. You find out they were never dead. You’re both five years older and there’s tension and unresolved problems that you thought you’d never have to talk about again. Can you imagine it? How mentally and emotionally draining it would be Arie? Rose probably delayed the book to make sure that the ending was the best it could be. To make sure she wasn’t writing with no fuel in the tank. I want to know what happens to Markus and Genna too, but this isn’t the way to find out. Rose is not the bad guy here Arie. Put down the gun.”

Rose felt Arie’s hand leave her hair and the barrel of the gun leave her head. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in. Arie moved out from behind Rose, but the gun was in her hand still. The hooded man watched her actions closely. Arie whipped the gun up quickly and shot it at the hooded man. “NO!” Rose screeched. The hood dodged the bullet easily, he took Arie’s moment of shock to shoot the gun out of her hand with the arrow he had cued up. 

Arie tried to scramble for the gun, “Don’t try it, Hale. I don’t want to kill you.”

Rose’s eyes started to water at the sound of that word, “Please don’t kill each other.”

The hooded man looked from her to Arie as he made his way over. He held his hand out to Arie, “Key for the cuffs. Now.” Arie fumbled, but pulled the keys from her jumpsuit’s pocket. The hood picked the gun up from the floor and shoved it in the waistband of his pants, “Don’t move.” Arie stayed stiff as he started to unlock the cuff on Rose’s left wrist. “Are you alright?” She noticed a complete change in his tone, he sounded almost soft. She nodded a bit, not really feeling much of her voice. She pulled her hand towards her chest as soon as it free. The hood quickly started to work on the other cuff. “I’m going to get you out of here okay? I’ll take you to the police station and an officer can call someone for you.” 

She nodded again, “okay.” It was small, but the hood heard it. He quickly moved down to untie her legs. She felt like she was starting to breathe normally again as she became close to free. He finally moved to free her middle. When she felt the ropes fall she smiled a bit. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said with a soft smile before he turned to Arie. He showed her the cuffs, “You’re going to get a taste of your own medicine.” The hood soon had Arie handcuffed around the leg of the desk and a rope tightly around her feet. “The police will be here for you soon.” He turned to Rose, extending his hand to her. She took it, “Are you ready?” She gave him a small nod and he began to lead her out of the room. They walked a ways down the hall before making it to a set of stairs, Rose could tell the hood was watching her closely. Her hand was comfortable in his and she for some reason felt safe and at home with him though she barely knew him. Something about him was familiar in a twisted and confusing way. While she was lost in her thoughts about the hood they had climbed a few stairs, but her feet felt unbalanced and tired by the sixth step, causing her to wobble and almost fall. The hood stopped her from falling, one of his arms quickly swinging around her waist to steady her. They stood on the same step, the only sounds that could be heard were their breathing and the distance drip of water coming from the pipes. “Are you alright?” She couldn’t find her voice so she just nodded, his eyes were hard to see, but she could tell they were full of genuine concern. “Would it be better if I carried you up the stairs? There’s a few flights to go.” She nodded again, knowing that it would take a lot longer to get home if he had to help her walk all the way there. He gently picked her up, one arm under the bend in her knees and the other across her back. He was very careful with her, but he moved quickly through the rest of the flights of stairs. They were soon on the roof of the building, the night air feeling better to Rose than she ever could have imagined. The hood readjusted her so that she was standing on her feet, but one of his arms was firmly around her waist. “I’m going to let go, are you alright to stand?” Once again she just nodded and she could tell the hood was really worried about her, though she didn’t really know why. He let go of her and he used his now free hands to shoot an arrow with a rope attached to it across several rooftops. “We aren’t that far from the police station, but it will be quicker if we travel by rooftop. I’ll hold you with one arm and use the other to hang on to the rope. You’ve got to hold on to me though, are you strong enough?”

“Yeah I think so. Whatever gets us there the fastest,” Rose replied in a small voice.

“Okay,” He said as he wrapped his arm around her middle once again. There was something familiar about it as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. The thoughts about it were pushed to the side as he held on to her tightly and stepped off the edge of the roof. She buried her head in his shoulder so she didn’t have to think about the fact that her legs were dangling over the edge of nothing. The hood said nothing until their feet were both flat on the ground. Rose pulled away from him and looked around; the sight of the police station extremely comforting. 

“What the hell? Rose?” The detective said as he came out of the building. 

“I’ll leave Rose Merlyn in your care Detective. Her captor Arie Hale is at the abandoned Hale warehouse a few blocks from here,” he tossed something to the detective, “Here’s something to make sure Hale doesn’t get out of her sentence,” the hood explained quickly before looking back at Rose, “You are safe now, but if you are ever in danger in the future, you can count on me to be there,” he said as he pulled away from her.

She reached out and grabbed his forearm as he tried to leave, “Wait… who are you? How can I thank you?” 

“I can’t tell you who I am, but you can thank me by just taking a few days off and spending time with the people close to you.” With that, the hood vanished into the night.

“Come on Rose, let’s get you inside. I’ll call your brother and he can come get you,” The detective said as he gently guided her away from a spot she seemed to be glued to. He got her seated in his office and gave her a shock blanket. She stared emotionless at the floor, tuning out every other noise in the office. 

That was the first time she encountered, but it would by no means be the last.

~ ~ ~

Tommy was driving in circles around the city, unable to rest with his sister missing. He heard his phone ringing and he quickly picked it up off the passenger seat without looking away from the road. The streets were dead this late, so he looked at his phone just long enough to realize that it was Laurel's dad calling him. “Tell me you’ve got something detective,” he said, a begging tone almost present in his voice.

“I do, the same hood guy who rescued you and Queen the other day just dropped your sister off at the police station. 

“I’m on the way, how is she?” He asked as he sped up. 

“She hasn’t said anything said anything since he left, she has a few injuries that seem minor, but you should still take her to the doctor in the morning. A few officers are on the way to pick up the person responsible for her kidnapping. That’s all I know since she won’t say anything.”

“Thanks, detective,” Tommy said before hanging up and instantly calling his best friend, “Oliver you won’t believe it, the same guy that rescued us rescued Rose! Lance has her down at the station! He says that she has a few minor injuries and is quiet, but otherwise seems fine.” He exclaimed. The excitement in his voice calmed Oliver’s nerves.

“That’s amazing Tommy, I’m so glad she’s okay. I’m not far from the station, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Oliver replied.

“Okay Oli, I’m sure it’ll be comforting to see us both after what happened to her,” Tommy answered.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll see you in a few minutes, Tommy,” Oliver said as he pulled into the police station. 

“Right, see you soon Oli,” Tommy said before Oliver hung up the phone. He hid the hood’s suit carefully in the backseat of his car under a bunch of his belongings in hopes that no one would see it. He wasn’t being as careful as he normally would be because he wanted to get to Rose, but he still had to be somewhat careful. As soon as he was satisfied with how it looked, he hurried out of the car. 

He was soon a the front desk of the police station, “I’m here to see-”

“Miss Merlyn? She’s in Detective Lance’s office Mr. Queen,” The receptionist said boredly. He wasn’t really surprised that she figured out who he was here for, but he didn’t really have much time to think about it. He had been to the detective’s office before, so his feet very quickly carried him there. 

“Rose?!” He called as he came around the corner to Lance’s office. The door was cracked open and he could see her partially. He was about to fling the door open when Detective Lance did it for him. 

“I could have sworn I called her brother, not his good-for-nothing sidekick,” The Detective sneered.  
“I know you have your issues with me Detective, but Tommy called me. I just want to see my best friend,” Oliver begged, he noticed Rose perked up a bit at the use of the phrase, but then she has instantly slumped over again.   
“Fine, you can hang around until Tweedle Dumb gets here,” Lance said before he stepped to the side, “Watch her while I go talk to some of the officers working on her case.” 

“You got it, Detective,” Oliver replied before turning his attention fully to Rose. The sight broke his heart even though he had already seen her. Her curled up like that, scared and confused, his chest hurt. “Hey Sunshine,” Oliver said quietly as he bent down to be at her eye level. He could tell she was incredibly tense and he didn’t want to startle or upset her with any sudden noises. “How are you feeling?” He asked softly. He got no verbal response from her, just a small whimper like noise. His heart shattered into a million pieces again. He didn’t expect her to jump into his arms or anything, but he thought he could at least cox a bit out of her. He wanted to comfort her while learning whatever he could to assist the police. She had been a little bit talkative with the hood, but he guessed that her adrenaline had worn off. “Are you in pain anywhere?” Her head bobbed a bit. She was. “Can you show me?” She moved a little bit to show him were her wrists were torn up from the handcuffs. He sighed, he knew there had to be more, but even with everything he had seen he couldn’t bare to see her in anymore pain. “I’m so sorry Rose… If I had stayed with you during the party this never would have happened. I was so sc-”

“How’s my favorite baby sister?” Tommy asked as he entered the room and interrupted what Oliver was saying.   
Rose instantly lifted her head up, “Tommy!” She exclaimed in a hoarse voice. She very unsteadily stood up and Tommy quickly made his way over to her and scooped her up in his arms. One of his hands was on the back of her head and the other rubbed comforting circles on her back. Oliver knew that Tommy was Rose’s rock and it makes sense she was more responsive to him after everything at the party, but it still hurt. 

Rose started to cry on Tommy’s shoulder, “Hey hey kiddo don’t cry, it’s okay, you’re okay. Me and Oli are right here and you are safe.”

“Can we go home?” She asked quietly between cries.

“Yeah I’ll already asked the detective. You can spend the night at my apartment in one of the guestrooms and I’ll drive you to the doctors in the morning for them to check everything out,” Tommy said as he adjusted himself so that his arm was around his sister’s shoulders instead of it being a full blown hug.

“Can Oli come too?” She questioned.

Tommy looked towards Oliver who’s heart was going a million miles an hour because of the fact that Rose wanted him to come, “If he wants to he’s welcome to.”

“Of course, I’ll follow you in my car,” Oliver said with a small smile. He noticed Rose’s shoulders relax a bit. She didn’t feel safe enough with just Tommy there. 

“Alright, let’s get out of here. I can feel Detective Lance death glaring at me through the walls.” Rose let out a small laugh that made both the boys relax a bit. The trio started to make their way out of the police station together, a few pairs of eyes followed them out the door, including detective Lance’s. Oliver could tell he was still suspicious of him after the money stolen from Adam Hunt the night of his party. He was going to have to watch his steps around him, but that wasn’t his focus right now. His focus was on the girl walking a little bit in front of him. They had a rough patch right before all of this and he hoped that they could talk everything out when Rose was feeling better. Until then, he hoped that she would let him comfort her, but he just had to wait for her to come to him. What a long wait he was in for.


End file.
